Coal cleaner



Feb. 10, 1931. A, QPPY T AL 1,792,440

COAL CLEANER Filed July 9, 1929 I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 gwucntozs Feb. 10, 1931. A. e. OPPY ETAL COAL CLEANER Filed July 9, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 61.8.;S'ad e'r (1R0: neg I Feb. 10, 1931. A. G. OPPY ET AL 1,792,440

COAL CLEANER Filed July 9, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 w'ntoza Patented Feb. 10,1931

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALWYN G. OPPY D GRANGER B. SADLER, F WELCH, WEST VIRGINIA.

con. cLnANEa Application filed. July 9, 1929. Serial No. 376,897.

This'in'vention relates to coal cleaners of that type wherein very fine coal and particles approximately an inch in size on down to very fine'particles is cleaned of slate and other foreign matter, and particularly to mechanism of this character wherein air is used as a medium to separate the fine, light coal from the relatively heavy particles.

- One of. the objects ofthe present invention is to. provide mechanism ofthis character which will "thoroughly separate the fine coal from the heavy particles so that the refuse is discharged in a thoroughly cleaned condition at one endof the machine while the fine. coal is discharged in a thoroughly cleaned condition at the other end of the machine.

A further object is to-provide amechanism of this character having therein an agitator jig upon which the fine coal and refuse are discharged and by which the fine coal is fed from the inlet end of the agitator to the outlet end thereof while slate and foreign mat-' ters are discharged'through the openings of the agitator onto a moving screen which removes the refuse and while a constant current of air is being forced upward through the moving screen andthrough the agitator to buoyantly support, as it may be termed, the fine particles of coal and prevent these particles falling u on the screen or being carried ofl with the re use.

A further object is to provide a refuse conveyor which is in continuous lon 'tudinal movement in'a direction away from t e movement of the fine coal.

Another object is to provide means whereby the depth of the coal within the agitator may be controlled.

Another object is to provide means whereby the pressure of air being forced u ward through the coal may be controlled and m this connection to provide means for controllin the velocity of the air forced upward throug the coal.

Another object is to provide means for withdrawing the refuse without agitatin it after 'it has settled upon the moving re se discharge screen. 1

' 0 her objects will appear in the course of the following descriptlon.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side-elevation of a coal cleaning mechanism constructed in accordance with our invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof;

Figure 3 is a top plan View thereof;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary detailed section through the bottom of the agitator and through the air inlets;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary top plan view of one of the dampers or valves controlling the passage of air up through the coal.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that our mechanism includes the longitudinally extending angle irons 10 constituting the'base or support of the machine, and hav ing vertically extending angle irons or equivalent members 11 at one end braced by the braces 12. Mounted upon the vertical irons 11 is the bearing 13 for the shaft 14 carrying thereon the drum 15.

Pivoted upon the upper ends of the angle irons 11 are the longitudinal frame bars formed of angle irons 16 carryin adjacent their opposite ends the downwardly extending angle irons 17 connected by a tie angle iron 18 as illustrated in Figure 1. Extending upward from the angle irons 10 are the inclined brackets 19 which at their upper endsare ada ted to be adjustably engaged with the ang e irons 17 by bolts 20. Thus the frame formed of the members 16 and 17 may be raised or lowered at its free end upon the pivot 21 which' constitutes "the means whereby thebars 16 are connected to the bars 11. Riveted or bolted to the ends of the angle irons 16 beyond the vertical angle irons 17 are the gussets or plates 22. Mounted I upon bearings 23 carried by the angle irons through a coupling 32 from a motor 33, as for instance the three horse-power electric motor. Also mounted upon the motor shaft is a band wheel 34 from which a band 35 runs to a band wheel 36 mounted upon a shaft 37 supported in suitable bearings in the frame bar 16.

Riveted to the frame bars 16 and 17 and to theplates 38 in turn riveted to the frame bars 16 adjacent the pivot 21 are two side plates or webs 39 constituting a Wind trunk and housing and having a relatively enlarged opening 40 connected to a fan as will be later described.

Mounted upon the ends of the transverse shaft 41 which extends through the plates 38 and supported thereby are the more or less vertically extending supporting links 42 which extend upward and support a transverse shaft 43.

Disposed inward of the webs 39 or housing plates are the longitudinally extending angle irons 44. These, at one end carry bearings 45 through which the shaft 43 passes and thus the shaft 43 supports these angle irons at one end. The 0 V posite ends of the angle irons carry adjustable bearings 45 which are in effect eccentric straps and engage eccentric portions 46 upon the shaft 37. The eccen- .tricity is only such as to give about a oneeighth inch stroke or vibration to these supporting arms or angle irons 44 when the shaft 37 is rotated.

Mounted upon the arms 44 and oscillating therewith is the body of the agitator comprising the side walls 47 the downwardly inclined wall 48 at the end of the agitator remote from the links 42, the apertured or rifled bottom 49 and the discharge chute 50, the upper end of which is normally slightly above the rifled bed or bottom 49. The par ticular description of the bottom 49 of the a itator and the means whereby this may be adjusted will be iven later. It is sufiicient to say that the ottom of the agitator is formed with transverse openings 51 and preferably with transversely extending rifles 52' formed between these openings and being approximately triangular in section, the vertical rifles being disposed toward the point of entry of the coal, while the inclined rifles being disposed toward the point of discharge or in the direction of the coal flow.

Disposed upon the shaft 41 is a roller 53 and passing over this roller 53, thence beneath the rifle and over the drum 25 and thence downward and rearward and over the drum 15 is a belt or apron 54 of wire mesh and constituting a refuse conveyor. The shaft 24 constitutes the driving shaft for said belt and the belt' is urged into frictional engagement with the drum 25 which is rubber covered by means of an idler roller 55 urged against the belt by means of springs 56.

A shaft 57 on this roller projects through slots 58 formed in the plates 22, the springs 56 being disposed exteriorly of these plates 22. By means of this the belt or conveyor apron 54 is held in proper driving engagement with the drum 25. It will be seen that the apron travels in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2 and travels beneath the rifled bottom 49 of the agitator and in spaced relation thereto. Below the path of travel of the wire mesh conveyor 54 are a plurality of supports 58 for the support of the air controlling slides 59. These supports 58 may be formed in any convenient manner, but I have shown them as being formed each of two U-shaped strips of metal disposed one over the other, these strips being flanged at their margins at 58 as shown in Figure 4 to form guides within which the side edges of the slides 59 are disposed. These slides 59 are formed with openings 60 and slides with different sized openings may be used or two slides may be disposed within each pair of guides, both having openings capable of alinement with each other, one of the slides being adapted to be shifted or carry the openings more or less out of alinement and thus reduce or increase the effective area of these openings and thus the effective volume and pressure of-air passing up through these openings and through the wire mesh conveyor, this air entering through the relatively large openings 40 in the trunk or housing 39.

One wall of the trunk or housing 39, as shown in Figure 1 is longitudinally slotted at 61 to permit the insertion of the slides or their removal or adjustment and the metal plate of the housing on each side of this slide is reinforced by the longitudinally extending angle irons 62. It will be noticed from Figure 2 that the drum 25 is disposed some distance from the adjacent end of the bottom 49 and thatthe series of slides 59 also extends beyond the bottom 49 toward the drum 25.

Disposed behind the plate 48 and above the path of movement of the conveyor 54 between the bottom 49 and the drum 25 is a sheet metal hood 63, this hood being carried by channel irons 64, these channel irons in turn being supported by bolts 65 from angle irons 66 mounted upon the supporting frame, the heads of the bolts engaging the channel irons64 andthe threaded ends of the bolts engaging the angle irons 65 and carrying the nuts 66 etween which the supporting irons 65 may be raised and lowered to thus raise and lower the hood 63. These irons 64 are preferably disposed at an an leto the horizontal so that the forward en of the hood is raised a greater. distance from the path of movement "of the conveyor'plate 54 than is that portion of the belt beneath the hood rearward toward the agitator. Preferably, thou h not necessarily, a canvas seal 67 is disposed between the forward end of the apron and the wall 48 so as to prevent any escape of air at this point and cause all of the air passing upward through the forward portion of the conveyor to be forced rearward through the space betweenthe floor 49 of the agitator and the conveyor and upward through theapertures in the floor- 49 of the agitator.

For the purpose of regulating the'height of coal on the bottom of the agitator, I provide an adjustable rifle 68 adjacent the chute 50, this rifle being connected by a bolt 69 to a swiveled nut 70 so that the rifle may be raised or lowered. By adjusting the rifle 68, the pressure of the air on the coal may be regulated, it being obvious that if there is a deeper bed of coal, the air pressure will be increased because of the fact that the air cannot escape asreadily through the coal whereas if there is a thinner bed' of coal, the air pressure will be lessened for the reverse reason. The velocity of the air is regulated by the aperture plates 59 and their adjustment.

Attention is called to the fact that the bearings 45 are adjustably engagedwith the angle irons 44 so that the eccentric 46 may be shifted to thus change the amount of vibration given to the agitator. In the drawing,

I the vertical movement given to the agitator is approximately one-eighth of an inch whereas if the bearings 45 be shifted to a position intermediate the position shown in Figure 2 of the bearings 45, vertical movement will be doubled or be'approximately one quarter of an inch. The horizontal movement of the agitator at all-times remains constant. The greater agitation is required for wet coal and the lesser is best for dry coal because it wont stir up the floaters so much.

It will be seen that with this mechanism we have provided means for agitating the fine coal while it is being. supported upon an air current to thus permit the heavier particles to be discharged downward through the coal and through the air current and that we have provided means for constantly carrying away these heavier particles with practically no agitation of this refuse. Attention is called to the fact that the depth of the coal bed which is controlled by adjusting the last rifle by means of the adjustment designated 70, controls the air pressure. The resistance set up by the dampers and by the screen wire of the belt conveyor also controls this pressure to some extent. Furthermore the endless belt eonveyor formed of screen wire acts as a regulator to help built up the desired pressure in the air chest defined by the partitions '58 and the adjustment of the last rifle is necessary in order to make the thickness of the coal bed match the pressure of the air chest. Otherwise too great a velocity will be set ,up through the coal. The construction depends upon the close interaction ofvarious parts as the actual energy used on' the coal tomake it assume the state offlotation is that due to the velocity of the air current and mechanical agitation of the agitator. Pure pressure alone will avail. nothing as pressure in itself cannot float coal and sink slate. The pressure in the air chest-under the coal will be about eleven pounds per square foot or about two inches of water gauge while the fanused is capable of securing a pressure of eight inches of water gauge. Any obstruction to the air raises this pressure. The object of the pressure is to build up a velocity impulse against the particles of coal where it is needed. Larger coal uses more pressure. 7 Tables cleaning three inch coal would use five inches water gauge. This is because more velocity isfi needed to bombard the pieces and roll them 0 While we have illustrated a construction which has been found to be thoroughly effective in practice, we do not wish to be limited to the details, as it is obvious that these might be changed in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim 1. A coal cleaner of the character described, comprising a vertically movable downwardly inclined agitator, having transversely extending rifles separated by slots, an endless refuse discharging belt of reticulated fabric spaced from and traveling beneath the rifles in a direction away from the a discharge end of theagitator, and means for forcing air upward through the belt and the rifles to thereby support the lighter materialon the rifles and prevent it falling through between the rifles while permitting the heavier material to be discharged downward between the rifles on to said belt.

2. A coal cleaner of the character described, comprising a vertically movable downwardly inclined agitator having transversely extending rifles, there being slots between the rifles, an endless refuse discharge belt of reticulated fabric spaced from and travelling beneath the rifles in an upward direction and away from the discharge end of the agitator, means for discharging air upward through said belt and through the riffies, and means for controlling the thickness of the bed of material on said rifles.

3. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly extending agitator having transversely extending spaced riffles along its bottom, there being slots between the rifles, the agitator being mounted for longitudinal swinging movement at one end, an eccentric operatively engaging the other end of the agitator, an endless constantly moving refuse discharge belt of reticulated fabric spaced from and traveling beneath the rifles in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator, and means for forcing air u wardly through the belt and rifles to thereby support the lighter material on the rifles and prevent it from falling through the slots While permitting the discharge of heavier material on to said belt.

4. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly extending agitator having a discharge chute at its lower end, the bottom of the agitator being formed by transversely extending rifles separated from each other by slots, means pivotally supporting the discharge end of the agitator and permitting it to swing longitudinally, power operated means for oscillating the agitator, an endless belt of reticulated fabric passing beneath and spaced from said-rifles, means for supporting and driving said belt, the belt extending upward and moving in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator and extending beyond the receiving end of the agitator, ,a hood disposed over that portion of the belt extending beyond the agitator, means for forcing air upward through that portion of the belt beneath the agitator and the hood as and for the purpose stated.

5. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly extending agitator having a discharge chute at its lower end, the bottom of the agitator being formed by transversely extending rifles separated from each other byslots, means pivotally supporting the discharge end of the agitator and per mittingit to swing longitudinally, power operated means for oscillating the agitator, and an endless belt of reticulated fabric passing beneath and spaced from said rifles, means for supporting and driving said belt, the belt extending upward and moving in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator and extending beyond the receiving end of the agitator,-a hdod disposed over that portion of the belt extendingbeyond theagitator, means for forcing air upward through that portion of the belt beneath the agitator and the hood as and for the purpose stated and including adjustable dampers through which air passes and disposed below the upper flight of saidbelt.

6. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly extending agitator having a discharge chute at its lower end, the bottom of the agitator being formed by transversely extending rifles separated from each other by slots, means pivotally supporting the discharge end of the agitator and permitting it to swing longitudinally, power operated means for oscillating the agitator, an endless belt of reticulated fabric passing beneath and spaced from said rifles, means for supporting and driving said belt, the belt extending upward and moving in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator and extending beyond the receivingend of the agitator, a hood disposed over that portion of the belt extending beyond the agitator, means for forcing air upward through that portion of the belt beneath the agitator and the hood as and for the purpose stated, and including a series of compartments having partition walls extending upward to the belt and dampers carried by said partition walls and controlling the velocity of the air passing upward through the belt.

7. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly extending agitator having a discharge chute at its lower end, the bottom of the agitator being formed by transversely extending rifles separated from each other by slots, means pivotally supporting the discharge end of the agitator and permitting it to swing longitudinally, power operated means for oscillating the agitator, an endless belt of reticulated fabric passing beneath and spaced from said rifles, means for supporting and driving said belt, the belt extending upward and moving in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator and extending beyond the receiving end of the agitator, a hood disposed over that portion of the belt extending beyond the agitator, means for forcing air upward through that portion of the belt beneath the agitator and the hood as and for the purpose stated, and including a series of compartments having partition walls extending upward to the belt and perforated dampers slidingly mounted in the partition walls whereby the velocity of the air passing upward through the belt may be controlled,

nal movement of the agitator, a power operated eccentric mounted upon the frame and operatively engaging the receiving end of the agitator whereby to cause oscillations of the agitator, spaced rifles forming the bottom of the agitator and extending from the inlet end to the discharge end thereof, means for adjustably controlling the depth of the bed of material on said rifles, an endless refuse belt of reticulated material having an upper flight moving parallel but in spaced relation to the rifles, the belt being upwardly inclined in a direction away from the discharge end of the agitator, an air trunk disposed below said upper flight of the belt and extending from the discharge end of the agitator to a point beyond the receiving end thereof, said air chest being connected to a source of air under pressure and a hood mounted above the belt and air' chest beyond the receiving end of the agitator, the hood being adjustable toward or from the belt and. acting to direct air passing upward through the refuse belt to be discharged toward the agitator.

9. A cleaner of the character described, comprising a supporting frame, an agitator swingingly mounted with its discharge end upon the frame and extending upwardly toward the receiving end, means for oscillating said agitator including a member adjustable longitudinally of the agitator to thereby control the amplitude of the oscillations given to the agitator, rifles forming the bottom of the agitator and spaced from each other to provide slots for the rifles, means for controlling the depth of the material bed on the rifles, an endless belt of reticulated fabric having its upper flight extending below the bottom of the agitator and beyond the upper end of the same, a hood over the extension of said belt and directing air toward the agitator, an air chest disposed below the upper flight of the endless belt andextendingsub stantially the whole length thereof and connected to a source of air under pressure, and means disposed below the agitator and'the hood whereby the velocity of the air passing upward through the belt and agitator may. be controlled. 10. An apparatus of the character described including a downwardly inclined agitator having a receiving end and a discharge end, rifles forming the bottom of the agitator and spaced fromeach other to provide slots, means foroscillating the agitator,- means for discharging air under pressure and" with a predetermined velocity upward through said slots, anda' conveyor disposed below the rifles in spaced relationthereto and receiving and carrying'ofl refuse passing through the slots against the action of the'air. i j 11. A coal cleaner of the character described comprising a downwardly inclined agitator having transversely] extending coal supporting members spaced apart to provide slots, an endless refuse discharge carrier of reticulated fabric spaced from-and traveling beneath the supporting members in one direction,'means for discharging air upward through said carrier and between the supporting members, and means for controlling the thickness of the bed of material on said supporting members. 7

12. A coal cleaner of the character described including an agitator, an agitating hopper having coal supporting members spaced from each other to provide slots between the supporling members, a refuse carrier spaced from and traveling beneath the supporting members and away from the dischargeend of the agitator, and means for discharging air upward through said carrier and through the spaces between said supporting members.

13. A coal cleaner of the character described including means for supporting and agitating a bed of fine material, means for discharging an air current upward through said supporting means to thereby support relatively fine material upon said air current and permit the discharge of heavier particles through the bed and downward between said supporting members, and a conveyor disposed below the supporting members in spaced relation thereto and upon which said heavier material discharges, the conveyor being constructed to permit the passage of air upward through the. conveyor.

14. A coal cleaner of the character described, including a hopper inclined in one direction and mounted for agitational movement longitudinally of the direction in which it is inclined, the bottom of the hopper having transversely' extending rifles spaced from each other, the lower end of thehopper havinga discharge chute, a conveyor of reticulated fabric having a flight traveling beneath the hopper upward and away from the discharge end of the hopper and upon which relatively heavy refuse may be discharged through the spaces between said rifles, and means for discharging air upward through said conveyor and through the spaces between the rifles.

In testimony whereof we hereunto aflix our signatures.

ALWYN G. OPPY.

GRANGER B. SADLER. 

